Vibrating ring gyroscopes, developed over the course of the past two decades, have typically employed solid rings cantilevered centrally relative to a substrate by means of an anchor. A single annulus suspended by a compliant support structure will oscillate in a desired mode with nearly equal displacement of both the inner and outer edges of the ring.
Composite rings coupled to contiguous radial beams that extend outward from a central support have also been designed. Additional degrees of freedom are sought, however, to expand the space of design parameters, thereby allowing for optimizing sensitivity to particular modes of vibration.